Chief Bill Blair said he was given legal advice not to disclose the mayor’s potential involvement in a criminal probe, but both police and provincial officials have been silent on what rules he is following.

On Friday, those officials refused to direct the Star to sections of the Criminal Code or Police Services Act that prevent Blair from clearing the mayor’s name of any involvement in Project Traveller — a year-long operation targeting guns, gangs and drugs.

The chief was asked at a news conference last week and during a media scrum Thursday if the mayor was involved, whether the mayor’s office is subject to a criminal investigation, or if any videos have been recovered.

On Friday, police spokesperson Mark Pugash referred the Star to previous comments made by Blair on Project Traveller.

“If you look in the Criminal Code and the Police Services Act, there are very specific sections in there that define exactly what the responsibilities and the authorities of the police are to disclose information, and I am following that law to the letter,” Blair said Thursday.

Neither Blair nor Pugash would elaborate on which sections or what they say.

Toronto Police Services Board chair Alok Mukherjee told the Star in an email that because the questions at issue deal with operational matters, they fall outside the purview of the board.

“As such, I regret that I am unable to respond or to direct the Chief concerning them in any way,” he wrote.

At Queen’s Park, both political officials and bureaucrats were tight-lipped when asked repeatedly about what law would prohibit Blair from discussing whether the mayor or any of staff had come under police surveillance, or if Ford himself were linked in any way to an investigation, or if there were a criminal probe of the mayor’s office.

Aides to Attorney General John Gerretsen would not make him available for an interview Friday and deferred all queries to a ministry official.

While the Star has confirmed that Gerretsen himself has not spoken with Blair about the matter, it is unclear whether the chief has conferred with senior people in the ministry.

Ministry spokesperson Brendan Crawley said the department could not discuss who gave Blair the legal advice.

“We cannot comment. As a matter of practice, we do not confirm whether advice is sought or whether it is given. It would be covered by solicitor-client privilege,” Crawley said in an email.

When pressed to clarify points of law that the chief may have been referring to, the official said: “The Minister will not be making any further comment.”

Liberal insiders were similarly reticent — even off the record.

Ford has denied the existence of a video, seen by two Star reporters and the U.S. gossip website Gawker, appearing to show him smoking crack cocaine.

Sources told the Star that police learned of the video’s existence while conducting surveillance for Project Traveller.

An apartment address on Dixon Rd. that sources told the Star Ford had blurted out at a meeting with staff, saying the video could be located there was subject to a search warrant as part of Project Traveller.

Ford also appeared in a photograph with three men — one of whom was shot dead and two of whom were arrested as part of the sweep — in front of a house on Windsor Rd. that was also targeted by a search warrant.